4 Answers
4

In some shops where I have worked "Architect" implies a thinker, not a doer. For QA Architect, it means someone who thinks about QA, researches and suggests improved methods and metrics. Sometimes it's someone who trains others.

In other shops, "Architect" just means "very Senior". It's the top-level tester in the shop. Nothing more.

Your mileage may vary. Consult the job ads themselves for hints as to what "QA Architect" means for that particular company. And if you apply and get an interview, ask lots of questions. That is the only way you will know.

A qa architect is a person who design the building block of qa process. Basically this is more relevent to test automation where many things comes in picture. So his role is to place and consult the optimized way to place the block so that whole system is stable economic scalable, fast and optimized. Test automation uses a lot of resources like machines. Tools and services so this guy is responsible to stablish the system which follow the above mentioned guidelines.